Electric lamps



se i. 9, 1958 Y J. H. BERGER ELECTRIC LAMPS Filed April 7. 1955 United States Patent ELECTRIC LAMPS Jack H. Berger, Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada, assignor of one-half to Frank Friesen Reimer and Abraham Dueck Penner, both of Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada Application April 7, 1955, Serial No. 499,948 2 Claims. (Cl. 313-51) This invention relates to an electric lamp and is particularly concerned with an arrangement for making electric connections to the lamp.

Prior to the present invention electric lamps have been usually fitted with either a screw type base or a bayonet type base. Such a base assembly requires a number of parts and the bulb must be made with a neck fitting down into the base. This construction requires several steps to be performed in the assembly of the electric lamp so that the base structure accounts for a considerable proportion of the total cost of the lamp. This is of particular importance in photo-flash type of lamps which are used only once and then discarded.

The present invention provides an electric lamp having a very simple and efiicient means for supporting the lamp and making electric connections to it. An electric lamp according to the invention comprises a bulb, a pair of adjacent lead-in electrical conductors, the parts of the conductors exterior to the bulb each having a crimp adjacent and opposite to the crimp in the other conductor. With such an arrangement the exterior parts of the conductors form both the means for mechanical support of the bulb as well as the means for making electric connection to the bulb. Such a bulb connects to a socket having a pair of adjacent electrical contacts spaced apart substantially the same distance as the exterior parts of the conductors of the lamp, the contacts of the socket having crimps fitting the crimps in the exterior parts of the conductors of the lamp. One of the contacts of the socket is adapted to be sprung aside. Such a socket may be in the form of an adapter having a screw or bayonet type base made to fit into a socket of conventional construction.

A convenient and economical shape for a bulb in accordance with the present invention is spherical. The only materials required in the assembly of the bulb are the wires forming the electrical conductors and the transparent material such as glass forming the bulb. The glass may be thickened where the wires pass through it in order to form reinforcement that holds the wires in position and keeps the bulb airtight. The crimps formed in the exterior parts of the wires form a convenient means for attaching the bulb to the socket and provide for its quick release, which is important in the case of photo-flash bulbs. Bulbs according to the invention require less shipping and storage space than bulbs having .conventional bases, are of less weight, and can be manufactured faster at less cost.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates one embodiment of an electric lamp in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a view partly in section of another form of the electric lamp in accordance with the invention; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view of an adapter socket for the electric lamp shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view of an adapter socket for the electric lamp shown in Figure 2.

The electric lamp shown in Figure 1 is a flash bulb of the type used for photography and comprises a glass bulb 6d 10 fitted with a pair of electrical conductors 11 and 12. The wall of the glass bulb 10 has a thickened portion 13 where the conductors 11 and 12 pass through it. This provides a reinforcement which holds the conductors 11 and 12 in position and also acts as a seal for the bulb. Each of the external parts 14 and 15 of the conductors 11 and 12 has a crimp 16 and 17 opposite to the crimp in the other conductor. Each crimp is generally U- shaped and it will be noted that external parts 14 and 15 extend outwardly from the exterior surface of the glass bulb so that the whole of the surface of the U-shaped crimps 16 and 17 are exposed.

An adapter socket is shown in Figure 3 for the electric lamp described above in connection with Figure l. The adaptor socket comprises a'screw base 20 having a sidewall 19 of conventional structure and a central electrical contact 21 embedded in insulating material 22. The contacts of the socket are formed by a lip 23 formed at the upper edge of the wall 19 and by a centrally arranged strip 24 of spring metal which is connected to the central contact 21. The upper part of the strip 24 has a crimp 25 formed in it and an opposing crimp 26 is formed in the lip 23 of the wall 19. The crimps 25 and 26 are spaced apart to receive the external parts 14 and 15 of the conductors of the lamp shown in Figure 1. Upon inserting the external parts 14 and 15 between the contacts in the socket, the spring contact 25 moves aside to allow the external parts 14 and 15 to enter. Provision is made for releasing the electric lamp by a press button 27 connecting through an opening 28 in the Wall 19 to the spring contact 25. Preferably the push button 27 is made of an insulating material but in any event means may be provided to electrically insulate the push button 27 from the electrical contacts of the socket. The bulb can be released from the. socket by merely pressing on the push button 27 thereby releasing the crimps 16 and 17 formed in the conductors of the lamp from the crimps 25 and 26 formed in the contacts of the socket. The adapter socket is made to screw into the ordinary screw type socket but, in the case of manufacturing equipment to use the electric lamp shown in Figure 1, contacts having crimps 25 and 26 can be built directly into a socket as an integral part of the equipment.

Another form of electric lamp in accordance with the invention is shown in Figure 2. The lamp shown in Figure 2 has a spherical shaped glass bulb 10 containing a pair of electrical conductors 30 and 31. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2 there is a recess 32 in the spherical bulb 10 and the exterior parts 33 and 34 of the conductors 30 and 31 are arranged against the walls of this recess with the facing surfaces of crimps 35 and 36 exposed. The wall of the bulb 10 has a thickened part 37 to form a reinforcement for the conductors 30 and 31 and to provide a seal.

An adapter socket for the bulb shown in Figure 2 is shown in Figure 4. This adapter socket is similar in many respects to the one shown in Figure 2 except that crimps 40 and 41 of the electrical contacts of the socket are formed above the upper surface of the wall 19 of the socket and are formed to mate with the crimps 35 and 36 formed in theconductors 30 and 31 of the lamp shown in Figure 3. A push button 27 is provided for deflecting the central contact 24 in order to release the lamp from the socket. In this case it is necessary to deflect the contact 24 in the opposite direction because the crimps 40 and 41 fit inside the recess 32 in the bulb 10 of Figure 2 Various shapes of bulbs may be used for lamps in accordance with the invention. The bulbs shown in the drawing are photo-flash bulbs but the invention may be applied to other types of electric lamps.

'What I claim as my invention is:

l. A photo-flash bulb comprising a hollow spherical glass bulb member, the wall of said member in one area being substantially thickened and constituting an inward protuberance, said thickened portion having a substantially semi-circular recess therein with a restricted opening leading to the outside, a pair of spaced-apart substantially parallel filamentimembers within said spherical member and extending through said protuberance and into said recessand having a configuration within said recess conforming to the walls thereof, all of said protuberance and said filament members being disposed within the confines of the outer surface of said spherical member.

2. A photo-flash bulb comprising a hollow spherical glass bulb member, the wall of said member in one area being substantially thickened and constituting an inward protuberance, said thickened portion having a substantially semi-circular recess therein with a restricted opening leading to the outside, a pair of spaced-apart substantially parallel filament members within said spherical member and extending through said protuberance and into said recess and having a configuration within said recess conforming to the walls thereof, all of said protuberance and said filament members being disposed within the confines of the outer surface of said spherical member;

and a base member having a threaded exterior portion adapted to fit into a socket, two current supply members extending from the upper portion thereof and bent so as to conform to the recess in said spherical member, said current supply members being spaced a distance substantially equal to the width of the opening in said spherical member, one of said current supply members being spring biased so as to permit the entry of said current supply members into the recess in said spherical member, means for forcing the said spring biased current supply member inwardly so as to release said spherical member from said current supply members, said spherical glass bulb member being supported solely by said current supply members projecting from said base member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 271,171 Weston Ian. 23, 1883 273,554 Lea Mar. 6, 1883 288,217 Edmunds Nov. 13, 1883 365,189 Lemp et a1 June 21, 1887 392,666 Coad Nov. 13, 1888 1,373,920 Strickland Apr. 5, 1921 2,158,849 Blake May 16, 1939 2,465,084 Greiner Mar. 22, 1949 

